I think so too, considering AMS is not a Star Alliance Home, I suspect SQ depends on point to point Singapore and Dutch passengers and transit passenger to/from Indonesia. From my observation on some of my flights between AMS and SIN with SQ, most of the passengers were Indonesians. It makes sense as Indonesia to SQ is like China to CX.

However, given that GA has been upping their game, I guess this move is simply to keep SQ’s Indonesian and Dutch customers happy and away from GA, who happens to be growing in the right direction, and becoming a bigger and bigger threat to SQ.

My thought is so for two reasons. Firstly, SQ had never really invested in their AMS route like the other routes such ad LHR, CDG and FRA. They only started to make improvements when GA introduced its 777 and perhaps KL’s recent transformation. The introduction of A350 to Amsterdam is most probably their way to lure more Dutch/Indonesian customers and to keep Europe’s 4th busiest airport in their network.

Secondly, SQ had enjoyed loyalty from Indonesians as Indonesians never really trust GA. But the market is changing. As more Indonesians are starting to travel far abroad, Indonesian are also starting to prefer GA over the overly priced SQ. Beside that, CX has also been doing really well in Indonesian market. I can imagine that it is a big concern for SQ. Not only EK And EY who are threatening them, but GA and CX too. The A350 to Amsterdam is perhaps one of their way to show Indonesia that they are committed to serve the country by deploying their latest aircraft to Indonesia’s number one destination in Europe. And of course to certain extent says ‘look, we are still light years ahead than GA.’ 😉

I will watch this with interest. As has often been said, SQ never compete on price so the A350 is upping the game in improving the experience without really adding to capacity. I think the current offering is the 77W so the A350 should be a significant improvement. Certainly on QR there is no comparison.

While true SQ has little or no *A feeder traffic into AMS, canny UK travelers will buy cheap KLM or Easyjet flights into AMS then take advantage of the cheaper ex AMS fares. Not only that, but many Belgian and Germans bordering the Netherlands use AMS so there could be some good feeder traffic coming to SQ from elsewhere.

I have to say, although SQ J seat is slightly better than GA. food is actually better in GA J, but then food is subjective. I have never tried QR, so sadly I can’t compare. As I rely a lot on KLM, and they have been superb both on and off flight, I always try to fly Skyteam whenever possible.

HI Lugano,

My bad. Actually when booking to SIN from AMS I am always given an option by SQ to go via LHR, where AMS-LHR flight is operated by KLM or FRA with LH, but not to, for example Jakarta or Australia. So, perhaps AMS is a popular port for connecting passengers beyond SIN, and SQ is trying to fill the plane for such passengers.